Classroom Blogging

Blogging with students is a method of writing and reading that incorporates new, online literacies. Blogging also connects students' means of communication outside of school, with academic means of communication inside of school. Without these advancements and connections, the work inside the literacy classroom may seem or be irrelevant to students' lives and to the future of writing, reading, and communicating. This article, by Lisa Zawilinski, provides a theoretical rationale for blogging: "The Internet is this generation's defining technology for literacy...Schools need to prepare students for these new literacies by integrating them into the curriculum, and blogs are an easy way to begin." Zawilinski also emphasizes the relationship between reading comprehension and writing on the internet:

"As online readers gather information to solve a problem, they frequently analyze

information, critically evaluate, synthesize across multiple texts and communicate with

others using instant messag- ing, e-mail, blogs, wikis, or other communication vehicles.

These essential new literacies of online reading com- prehension emphasize higher order

thinking skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation and can be practiced through

blogging."

While subbing for the library teacher, 8th grade students and I read "Blogs vs. Term Papers," by Matt Richtel in the NYTimes. Richtel reviews points for and against both forms of writing, showing how blogging encourages thoughtful, creative writers to enter into a "public, interactive discourse." He writes:

"Why not replace a staid writing exercise with a medium that gives the writer the immediacy of an

audience, a feeling of relevancy, instant feedback from classmates or readers, and a practical

connection to contemporary communications? Pointedly, why punish with a paper when a blog is,

relatively, fun?"

On the other hand, the rigor, critical thought, and argumentation of the substantive term paper is still preferred by some.

It's an important debate for 21st century students and teachers. The 8th graders with whom I read this article by and large preferred blogging to paper-writing. They do some of each in their English Language Arts classroom. Among their arguments in favor of blogging they included, "My hand hurts when I write," "I like how other people comment on my writing," and "Papers are stupid." In more or less words, I think they're saying that typing on computers is the current mechanism for writing and that's not changing; that feedback and an immediate audience are important to them; and that blogging feels more relevant and authentic than term papers. I'm inclined to agree...but every time I write a term paper, I am amazed at how much I learn from the process. It is arduous and sometimes painful, but when I reflect on the process, I realize how much it forced me to think in ways I had not yet thought. Paper-writing forces me to make an argument that can be substantiated, a practice I don't think the 8th grade students have mastered or experienced yet.

I guess I'll promote both forms of writing. Maybe I'll even combine them in some cases. There is no reason why students can't post on a blog an entire paper with sources and all. But I see benefits to both, and especially for students who are college-bound, I think it remains essential that they learn to write shorter, reflective responses on blogs as well as longer, more substantiated, argumentative papers. And I think both of these forms of writing allow for the development of higher-order thinking skills.